U.S. crude futures inched up in spite of a stronger dollar on Thursday, even as Russian and Venezuelan leaders accomplished little headway in crafting a strategy to boost crashing oil prices.On the New York Mercantile Exchange, WTI crude for October delivery traded in a broad range between $45.67 and $48.42 a barrel before closing at $46.74, up 0.48 or 1.05% on the session. It marked the fifth time U.S. crude futures closed higher over the last seven sessions. After experiencing one of its most volatile stretches since the turn of the century, Texas Long Sweet futures are showing some signs of stabilizing. Since closing near $45 a barrel on Tuesday, WTI crude has posted modest gains over the last two sessions. Previously, WTI closed more than 6% in either a positive or negative direction on four consecutive trading days. It included a spike of more than 10.25% on August 27, its largest one-day gain in more than five years. On the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), brent crude for October delivery wavered between $49.92 and $52.45 a barrel, before settling at $50.72, up 0.23 or 0.46% on the day. The spread between the international and U.S. domestic benchmarks of crude stood at 3.98, below Wednesday’s level of 4.22 at the close. In Beijing, Russia president Vladimir Putin and Venezuela president Nicolas Maduro met on Thursday to discuss plans to address record declines in crude oil. The meeting took place as the leaders attended a military parade to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the conclusion of World War II in Asia. While Putin declined to outline any specific actions, he reportedly told Maduro that the two nations need to work in collaboration in an effort to stabilize prices. Russia appears reluctant, though, to relinquish its market share by cutting output from its current level of around 10.7 million barrels per day.
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